I.B. condos still flooding, despite efforts by SANDAG

Just as the condo garages on Seacoast Drive were drying out from the flooding caused by high tides in early January, on Thursday and Friday Imperial Beach got pounded again with the highest tide of the year.

Coastal conservationist and WiLDCOAST director Serge Dedina described the scene via Twitter on Friday as “crazy erosion and meaty surf.”

It frustrated condominium residents along the beach who have endured repeated floods in their garages in the three months since SANDAG finished a sand replenishment project south of the Imperial Beach pier.

The high surf in recent weeks has shifted the sand into a bank that does not allow the water to run back to sea when it crashes over the embankment. Instead, during high-tide periods, the water flows toward the homes and buildings behind the bank, flooding them.

SANDAG has responded with bulldozers and trenches to allow water to flow back to the ocean. The latest of the trenches were dug during last week’s onslaught.